Lancaster Green Chapter 5
James went back to Lancaster Green the next day on his own. Bradley was on comms again and James was a little unsure why he kept getting that position, but it wasn’t his business. Even if it was probably because he fucked his knee back up keeping James from killing himself a month and a half ago. James had noticed the limp, even if Bradley tried to hide it when James was around. And now that he thought about it, he had a pretty good idea of what that appointment yesterday probably was.
They already had the general manager’s statement from Amelia’s visit yesterday. Today James was interviewing a few of the nursing, housekeeping, and culinary staff who had reported seeing the thing.
“I think it was a ghost,” one young man named Jeremy said, tugging nervously on his maintenance uniform. “It was dark and the clouds… it was like it made the darkness even darker, if that makes sense. And it just hovered there. There’s no way it was dust or an illusion or anything that anyone was trying to convince us it was.”
“How many times did you see it?” James asked.
“Three,” Jeremy said with an equally nervous laugh. “And every time, the patient died later. I never saw it in the rec room or, like, the cafeteria or anywhere crowded. I saw it twice in residents’ rooms and once in the bathroom downstairs and it was always with someone who died. But it didn’t feel evil, if that makes sense.”
James nodded. There were plenty of things in the world that were connected to death, but not evil. Ghosts were the most well-known, but he’d heard of other possibilities. He glanced at the recorder beside him, then back at Jeremy. “That all makes perfect sense,” he said.
“I saw it in the bathroom,” a CNA named Sandra said as James interviewed her next. “Mrs. Morganstein’s bathroom. I was helping her shower and it just appeared.”
“Did it materialize gradually or all at once?” James asked.
“I don’t know,” Sandra admitted. “My back was turned at first since I was shampooing Mrs. Morganstein’s hair. But I turned around and, oh my God, I nearly fell off my own stool. She didn’t see a thing, but her husband did when he came in after I shouted.”
James jotted that down. “Are either of them here?”
Sandra shook her head sadly. “Mrs. Morganstein is in the hospital in Leominster,” she said. “She’s not in good shape, I doubt you’d be able to have a conversation with her. Mr. Morganstein died a few days later, the poor thing. It was expected, but still sad.”
So the dead man had seen it, but his still-living wife had not. “And the hospital hasn’t said anything?” James asked.
“Of course not,” Sandra replied. “I haven’t heard anything from them.”
“Mrs. Richards saw it,” a nurse, Adriana, told him during his final scheduled interview. “I saw it too. It was peaceful, just floating there in the room. It felt…not holy, I wouldn’t go that far. But peaceful.”
Interesting. “And did Mrs. Richards pass away?”
“No, she’s still here,” Adriana said. “I can see if she’d like to speak to you.”
“If she’s willing to and able to consent,” James replied. “I’d be happy to speak to her.”
“You didn’t consent,” Amelia’s voice echoed. “No one will hold it against you.”
They weren’t. They should, but they didn’t. Maybe it was a lack of self-preservation and he’d failed at teaching his team how to be effectively afraid of danger.
James followed Adriana into Mrs. Richards’s room a few minutes later. It was a hospital room, but clearly set up for long-term residency. There was a comfortable recliner jammed into the corner and the walls were covered in children’s artwork and religious paintings. James mentally noted these details and he knew on the other end of the comms, Bradley was probably writing them down.
“Mrs. Richards?” Adriana said to the little old woman tucked into the bed under a handmade quilt. “This is James, he’s here to talk to you about the ghost.”
Mrs. Richards smiled up at James, adjusting her bed so that she was sitting up. “Hello, dear,” she said. “Take a seat, please.”
There was another chair next to the bed, so he pulled it over. “I just want to let you know,” James said. “I have someone on the phone with me, listening. He’s just making sure I’m safe when I’m out here, but I don’t want you to think that this is a completely private conversation.”
“That’s alright,” Mrs. Richards said. “Hello, James’s friend.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line of the comms line. “Hello,” Bradley said finally, sounding only slightly confused.
“Can you tell me about the ghost?” James asked.
“The ghost…” Mrs. Richards said thoughtfully, closing her eyes for a second before opening them again. “This one was a cloud of some kind, just in the middle of the room. Right over there.”
She pointed and James turned his whole body so that he and the comms camera faced the area she was talking about. It looked completely ordinary, just like everywhere else they’d been in this facility the past couple days. A few pieces of powered down medical equipment tucked in the corner and an old wooden dresser pushed against the wall under an embroidered prayer, but nothing supernatural in sight.
“How long was it there?” he asked.
“Not long,” she said. “It appeared while I was watching TV the other night and just stayed there for a moment, watching me. I thought maybe it was my husband coming to visit. But this was different. It was just a cloud, like a fog, just clinging together in the middle of the room. No one else saw anything. The nurse came in and walked right through it. I think that’s what scared it off, because it disappeared.”
“Did it disappear all at once? Or was it slower?”
“I don’t know, dear, I’m sorry,” Mrs. Richards said. “I was taking my medication and when I looked over her shoulder, it was gone.”
So it disappeared on everybody. It was seemingly harmless, disappeared quickly, and not everyone could see it. James was still leaning toward it being a ghost, but it was a strange ghost if it was one.
Mrs. Richards yawned, delicately covering her mouth. “It wasn’t scary,” she said. “I’ve seen scary before, this wasn’t. It was almost peaceful, like it had just found its way here. And I think it’s because I’m going to die tonight.”
“Mrs. Richards-‘ Adriana started, but Mrs. Richards held up her hand. “Sweetheart, it’s fine,” she said. “I’m ready to go. James has been here a few times. My James,” she explained, turning back to James. “My husband. He died six years ago and he’s been back to prepare me. I know he’s going to pick me up today.”
Death drew it here. It was harmless, but attracted to death. Some kind of omen? Had something happened here during renovations that stirred it up? He’d have to look into that.
Mrs. Richards closed her eyes. “I’m tired,” she said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No,” James said, his throat suddenly tight. “No, thank you.”
“I hope you find your answers, dear.”
This was his last interview and he had to get back to headquarters to look over the readings and sit through one more awkward staff meeting before he went home. Mrs. Richards smiled at him, her eyes still closed, and reached her hand out. James hesitated, then took it in his gloved one. She opened her eyes for a second, squeezed his hand, then closed them again and let go.
James followed Adriana out to the nurses station. “She’s fine,” Adriana said. “At least there’s nothing wrong with her beyond being eighty-five. But I’m also not going to dismiss what she’s saying.”
“Me neither,” James said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. “I’ll be back in a few days to check the cameras and sensors. Thank you for your help.”
“Of course.”
He hurried out of the building, his vision getting blurry as he nearly ran toward his car. “I’m disconnecting now,” James said to Bradley over comms, aware that the fact he was about to break down was obvious in his voice. “I’m going back to headquarters, I’ll be there soon.”
“McManus-”
James disconnected the comms and dropped them on the passenger seat. His head hit the steering wheel and he sobbed, aware that anyone walking out of the building could see him, but he couldn’t make himself get up or stop. All he could do was cry until it passed.
About five minutes later, he’d managed to get himself under control enough to turn on the car. He was okay, he just needed to get to headquarters and keep going. He’d get through the day, go home, get high enough to sleep, wake up, start all over.
He could do this. He was alive.
***
Headquarters was quiet when James got back. He knew he should probably check in with someone, but he couldn’t bring himself to face any of the others yet. There was still some time before the staff meeting, but since there was nothing scheduled for him to do before then, he was going to attempt to finish his usual workout alone in the gym.
He wasn’t satisfied with his performance yet, but he also wasn’t supposed to push it. He hadn’t run for a month and yeah, there were a number of physical and mental factors that were also playing into his lack of progress. So after a disappointing number of reps and a too-slow mile on the treadmill, James gave up. He wiped down the treadmill, slung a towel over his neck, then started up the stairs as the phone rang in the living room.
No one was picking up, which was odd because everyone was on right now. He walked past the front door as the phone rang again. Clearly there was no one in the living room, so James ran, hurrying up the stairs toward the phone before the call disconnected.
Madelyn was coming down the hallway as he crossed the living room to get to the main phone. She gave a small shriek, pulling back from him as he got close to her. There was a flash of terror on her face and James went cold, his breath catching as he realized what had just happened. But the phone rang again, so he went for it while Madelyn stayed where she was, looking embarrassed and scared.
“Hello?” he said, barely listening as the person on the other end started asking about paperwork of some kind.
She was afraid of him. Of course she was afraid. It didn’t matter how many times she told him she wasn’t afraid of him, James had attacked her. He’d said it would be easy to kill her at any point he wanted to. He’d told her that her life was over, and even if that hadn’t technically part of the threat, it was a horribly cruel thing to say.
She could claim she wasn’t afraid of him, staying with him when he was weak. But it was natural she’d be scared.
“Um, forms,” he said when the man paused. “Yeah, um, you’ll want to talk to Bradley about that?”
“This set came from Gabriella McManus.”
He could see Madelyn from the corner of his eye, but he wasn’t going to look at her. “Right,” he said. “She’s not in at the moment, but Bradley is.”
The man sighed as James tried to remember to breathe. “I guess that’s better than nothing.”
He was about to shout down the hall for Bradley, who he assumed was in the back bedroom, but would that be scary too? Were they all scared of him? This lumbering monster that wasn’t tame anymore? He set down the phone. “Excuse me,” he said, without looking at Madelyn.
“James-”
He passed by her, giving her as much room as he could in the narrow hallway. He’d been right, Bradley was in his usual place in the back bedroom, with his usual scowl and usual stack of papers. It looked so familiar, but maybe nothing was normal anymore.
“You have a phone call,” James said, once again trying and failing to keep his voice normal.
Bradley looked up at him and the way the scowl turned to concern was too much for James to look at. “In the living room,” he added, then turned and went back down the hallway.
Madelyn was gone, but that was a good thing. He kept moving, going straight back down to the empty gym. Leaving his headphones where he’d forgotten them a few minutes earlier on the old heater, he started running again.
There was no way to organize or rationalize his thoughts, so he just let them stay at the forefront of his mind. After a few minutes, his side started to hurt, right near where his kidney had eventually recovered from being bruised when Madelyn hit him with her cane to get him away from her. When she’d hit him in self-defense.
It wasn’t that, he knew that. It was a stitch in his side, he was pushing it. Jolene wasn’t going to be happy and neither was Amelia. But he’d scared them too, right? Amelia had flinched. He’d touched her in the bathroom and she flinched. And he couldn’t remember everything he’d done to or near Jolene, but considering how many times she’d had to drug him during his recovery, he wouldn’t be surprised if she was scared too.
But of course Madelyn was afraid.
He kept going. James wasn’t sure exactly how he kept going, just that he had to. He had to keep going and it had to hurt. After a little while, the gym door opened and Amelia came in.
“Hey, the staff meeting started five minutes ago,” she said, standing in front of the treadmill.
“I shouldn’t go,” he said, not slowing his pace even as his pulse throbbed in his temples. “I don’t want to make things worse. She shouldn’t have to be at a meeting with someone she’s afraid of.”
“She’s not-”
“She is,” James said, out of breath, but still running. He stumbled and caught himself before Amelia could move to catch him or pull the emergency cord. “She is. And it makes sense.”
“James, come on.”
“Amelia, can I please skip this meeting?” he asked. “My shift is over after it, but if you need-”
“No, that’s fine,” she said. “Yeah, you can skip today’s meeting. Do you want to talk to Madelyn?”
“No,” James said, tasting blood. “I’m not mad, I don’t blame her. I’d be a bad person if I blamed her.”
He didn’t look at Amelia, instead just looking down at the blank screen of the treadmill. “James, it’s not-”
“Please leave me alone,” he begged through his too-short breaths. “Please.”
She was silent for a second. “Okay,” she said finally. “Just please don’t hurt yourself down here.”
She clearly knew he wasn’t going to answer her, because she walked out right then.
When he could finally get off the treadmill, James looked at what he had down here. His wallet and keys were still by the headphones, so he didn’t have to go up through the house. But as he was walking up the stairs toward the front door, he heard Madelyn.
“James, wait.”
He really didn’t want to, but he turned as she came down the stairs to meet him on the landing. “You just startled me,” she said, and he was too aware of how she had to look up to talk to him. “I swear, that’s what it was. I’m not afraid of you.”
She was lying. He’d known her long enough to know she was lying. “Yeah,” he said breathlessly. “Alright. I have to go.”
Maybe he should clock out, or at least let Amelia know he was leaving. But she knew. And if he went upstairs, there’d be more conversation. So instead, he forced a smile, then went home.
